The Airport and the Environment

     Carbon emissions are a topic that is being focused on worldwide and I believe it is the greatest environmental impact facing airport managers right now. Through the normal day to day operations of an airport carbon dioxide (C02) is being released and further damaging the planet in a variety of ways. It is not only the exhaust released when aircraft burn their fuel, but also by running HVAC systems and vehicle traffic to name a few. The aviation industry was responsible for 2.4 percent of the total global CO2 emissions in 2018 (Overton, 2019). Airport managers are essential to helping to reduce the carbon footprint that airports have, they have a duty to the aviation industry and to the communities they are apart of to help reduce emissions and create a healthier environment.  

                                                                dsleeter_2000/flickr

      Some solutions to this issue are to dedicate funding to improving the infrastructure of the airport. This means to improve the insulation, installing sources of renewable energy to help power different systems in the airport, and relying more on electric support vehicles to lower the amount of fossil fuel burned annually. This is not an issue that can or will be fixed in the next decade, but over that time I believe the aviation industry will take monumental steps towards a carbon free operation.


References

Federal Aviation Administration. (2021). Airport Carbon Emissions Reduction. https://www.faa.gov/airports/environmental/air_quality/carbon_emissions_reduction/

Overton, J. (2019). The Growth in Green House Gas Emissions from Commercial Aviation. Environmental and Energy Study Institute. https://www.eesi.org/papers/view/fact-sheet-the-growth-in-greenhouse-gas-emissions-from-commercial-aviation

Comments

  1. Joseph EliasJanuary 9, 2022 at 9:42 PM

    Micah,

    the idea of Electric powered GSE is very interesting and has been talked about over many years how do you think it will change the emissions for the future of the aviation community? will the disposal of the batteries be taken into effect for the emissions reduction?

    ReplyDelete

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